Sept. 28, 2003

Charleston, SC - On a drawing board in The Citadel's locker room, the words were written in capital letters four inches high:

"FINISH THE PLAY."

The Bulldogs finally did just that Saturday afternoon. Senior kicker Travis Zobel, called in at the last second by coach Ellis Johnson, booted a 26-yard field goal with 1:16 to play, lifting The Citadel to a 24-21 victory over teetering Southern Conference football power Appalachian State.

The noise coming from the 13,569 fans at Johnson Hagood Stadium, and from inside the Bulldogs' locker room, was jubilant testimony to this fact -- for the Bulldogs, this one had been a long time coming.

"I've never beaten App State since I've been here," said fifth year senior Scooter Johnson. "It feels great to finally do it. They are always one, two or three in the conference. Now, we're trying to be one, two or three in the conference."

It was the kind of tense, mistake-filled game that the Bulldogs had made a habit of losing the last two seasons. By winning it, The Citadel beat Appalachian State for the first time since 1993, snapping a nine-game losing streak; defeated one of the SoCon's Big Three (also including Furman and Georgia Southern) for the first time since a 25-24 win over Furman in 1998; and beat one of the Big Three at home for the first time since a 35-20 win over Georgia Southern in 1996.

The Bulldogs now take a 2-3 record (1-1 SoCon) into a home game next week with Elon, picked to finish last in the league. They then get an open date before a three-game stretch of Furman, at Georgia Southern and Wofford.

"We're in the scramble," Ellis Johnson said. "We're not going to have any easy ones in this league, but I think the league is a little more scrambled this year, because most of the teams are breaking in new quarterbacks."

That's certainly true of App State (1-3, 0-1), which has made the Division I-AA playoffs the last five years, winning one SoCon title in that span. With junior QB Richie Williams replacing four-year starter Joe Burchette, the Mountaineers are off to their worst start since 1993. Williams was 12 of 24 for 156 yards and a TD, but two fourth-quarter mistakes -- an interception and a dropped snap -- proved costly.

The Bulldogs also made plenty of mistakes, dropping three third-down passes as quarterback Willie Simmons was just 12 of 26 for 112 yards and one TD against the worst pass defense in the SoCon. Scooter Johnson dropped one of those passes, and his fumbled punt set up App State for Williams' 1-yard TD sneak that tied the game at 14-14 with 4:52 left in the third quarter.

Free safety Anthony Roberts made another mistake when he gambled for an interception and missed, allowing former Stratford star Sterling Hayward to go 62 yards with a TD catch that gave App State a 21-14 lead with 1:23 to go in the third.

Both Scooter Johnson and Roberts would find redemption in the fourth quarter.

Scooter Johnson tied the score at 21-21 with a 44-yard TD run on a reverse with 9:34 left, getting key blocks downfield from receiver Bud Pough and 6-6, 265-pound tackle Lew Dawson. The play capped a drive begun by Williams' fumble and kept alive by Zobel's 20-yard run on a fourth-and-7 fake punt.

And Roberts, the fifth-year transfer from Duke, picked off a Williams' pass at the App State 26 with 4:33 left, setting up Zobel's winning kick.

"We had a lot of things that didn't go well," Ellis Johnson said. "But I told the kids after the game, almost everyone of those guys who made a mistake came back somewhere and made a big play for us. I think they found out today, this is the way you have to do it. Just keep believing in yourself."

The final play was made by Zobel. Redshirt freshman Blake Vandiver is supposed to handle short field goals, saving Zobel for punts and longer field goals. But Vandiver had missed an extra point earlier, and with the ball at the App State 8-yard line with 76 seconds left, Ellis Johnson called for the senior.

"I was just walking on the sidelines. I didn't think I'd be kicking it," Zobel said. "He told me I had been there before and had the experience, and that he had confidence in me."

And now, that confidence is spreading. "What was different today," senior safety T.J. Rose said, "was that in the past, when things didn't go our way, we kind of got down ourselves. Today, we believed in ourselves and played like winners."